A Yemeniyah's Recipes

This is a one pot dish–goes well with either white rice or French bread.

You will need:

1) 1 pound of veal, cut into medium pieces.

2) 2 medium onions, finely sliced.

3) one green chilly pepper(halved lengthwise)–optional.

4) 1/2 medium acorn squash, peeled and quartered.

5) 2 big potatoes, peeled and halved.

6) green and yellow zucchini, each cut into 4 pieces

7) 2 medium tomatoes, diced

8) 3 carrots, peeled and halved

9) Salt to taste

10) 2 tsp of ground cumin

11) 1 1/2 tsp of ground coriander

12) 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon

13) 1/8 tsp of freshly ground pepper

14) 2-3 cardamons–whole

15) 1/4 of a bunch of cilantro–tied with a string– and3 tblsp of finely chopped  for garnish.

16) 3-4 tblsp of Olive Oil.

17) 2 and 1/2 tblsps of tomato paste.

Let’s get started:

In a pot add the olive oil, meat, onions, cilantro (tied with a string), all the spices (10-14), salt. Mix well, cover and place on medium heat for 30 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and let cook for another 15 minutes. Then add some boiling water to cover entirely, and let boil for 20 minutes. Add the tomato paste and let cook for 15 minutes. Then add the  carrots and let cook for 15 minutes, add the potatoes and let cook for another 15 minutes. Add the squash, let cook for another 10 minutes. Finally add the zucchinii and let cook for 10 minutes.

I usually like to put it in an oven dish after I am done, and leave under the broiler for the meat and vegetables to brown on top. But this is optional.

Serve with either white rice or hot French bread, straight from the oven and enjoy.

Read Full Post »

I first had this dish at a Tunisian sister’s whose mother had come to visit. Her mother made us couscous of course, but she also made this VERY colorful dish. I LOVED IT ! It literally bursts with flavor ( the main ingredient in this dish is dried and finely ground Molokhiya–not like other Molokhiya dishes that require either fresh minced Molokhiya or whole dry Molokhiya leaves). It is UNFORGETTABLY DELICIOUS !

Before you start making this dish put a pot of water to boil–a 2 quart pot.

You will need the following:

1) Ground Molokhiya. FINELY GROUND TO A POWDER! It might be hard to come by, but you can sometimes buy the dried Molokhiya and grind it yourself. 6 tblsp–1 tblsp of each person is the measurement that my Tunisian friend said is their unit of measure for this dish.

2) 1 pound of veal–boneless cut into medium sized pieces.

3) 2 tblsp of tomato paste

4) Ground coriander (1/2 tsp)

5) Ground caraway (1/2 tsp)

6) 3 cloves of garlic–finely minced.

7) sprinkle of pepper

8 )  salt to taste–but make sure that you do not add too much salt as it will become VERY salty. So just a sprinkle and then you can add more as desired.

9) Canola oil–enough for the dried Molokhiya into a runny mixture (not a paste)

Okay let’s start. Mix in the oil with the dried Molokhiya powder. NOW PAY ATTENTION to this first step as it can either make the dish a success or failure. In a pan place the Molokhiya mixed with the oil and place on very low heat. Just went it starts to bubble–JUST STARTS–add a cup of the boiling water and mix quickly. It will absorb the water so add another cup and stir. When it starts to bubble then place in a 2 quart pot (the thicker the better, so it does not stick to the bottom and burn).

When it is in the pot, place on medium heat and add water to 3/4 of the pot. Cover and let boil for 2 hours and a 1/2. Make sure every 15 minutes you give it a stir–we are doing this out of fear that it will stick to the bottom and burn.

After 2 1/2 hours, wash the meat and mix in ingredients 3-7 and place on top of the boiling Molokhiyah. Let boil for another hour and a half (not forgetting to stir every 10-15 minutes).

You will know it is done when the oil comes to the surface, meat is tender and the sauce has reduced to about a quarter of the pot.

Serve with french bread. Enjoy !

Read Full Post »